Unlocked iPhone 4s in Apple Stores Wednesday?

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The source of this news is not your typically reliable go-to guy. Going by the name of Chronic Wire on Twitter, the account is quite young with only 12 tweets having been made and little else known about the source. But the information he’s reporting is intriguing.

Alongside stating that Apple is changing its Apple Store displays on Tuesday for Back to School promotions and the introduction of updated MacBook Airs, Chronic has also stated unlocked iPhone 4s will appear in store that day.

More specifically, he is claiming that on Wednesday both 16GB and 32GB models of the iPhone 4 in black and white will go on sale in unlocked form. What we don’t know is what network they will be compatible with, but you have to assume Apple would only do this if it could offer both types.

If true, it would open up the market in the U.S. to allow an iPhone 4 to be used on whatever network you prefer rather than the choice of AT&T or Verizon. That does mean a more expensive smartphone, though, as you are just buying unsubsidized hardware.

There are two reasons Apple could decide to do this: overstock and a big fall off in sales in the US. Both are valid reasons to make the iPhone 4 available to more people.

Apple is in a relatively unique position of knowing any smartphone it releases is going to sell out from day one. So when a new product launches, doing deals to limit available not only pushes up profits but helps deal with demand to some extent. As a product ages the potential user base diminishes on one network as it becomes saturated, so you open it more, as Apple did with Verizon. Now it looks as though the lock-in may be removed completely.

The one thing that makes me think this isn’t going to happen is the iPhone 4 isn’t a world phone. Apple would have to stock both types of iPhone which sounds messy for an Apple Store.